Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) Receives “Overweight” Rating from Stephens

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Stephens in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $67.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock. Stephens’ target price indicates a potential upside of 55.54% from the company’s previous close.

VCEL has been the topic of several other reports. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Vericel from $61.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Vericel in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Vericel from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.14.

Vericel Price Performance

Shares of VCEL stock traded up $0.41 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $43.08. The company had a trading volume of 30,940 shares, compared to its average volume of 414,788. The company has a market capitalization of $2.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 716.42 and a beta of 1.33. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $41.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.61. Vericel has a 52-week low of $37.39 and a 52-week high of $63.00.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by ($0.14). Vericel had a return on equity of 1.48% and a net margin of 1.56%. The firm had revenue of $52.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $53.86 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.08) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Vericel will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Vericel

In related news, CEO Dominick Colangelo sold 24,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.89, for a total transaction of $1,040,966.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 260,354 shares in the company, valued at $10,906,229.06. This represents a 8.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 5.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vericel

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VCEL. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Vericel by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,273,494 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $101,443,000 after purchasing an additional 35,345 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. raised its stake in Vericel by 1.6% in the first quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,476,718 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $65,891,000 after buying an additional 22,579 shares during the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Vericel by 12.4% in the first quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 1,432,434 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $63,915,000 after buying an additional 158,470 shares during the last quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Vericel by 24.2% in the first quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,365,744 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $60,939,000 after acquiring an additional 265,956 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Vericel by 5.8% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,363,644 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $60,846,000 after acquiring an additional 74,723 shares during the last quarter.

About Vericel

Vericel Corporation, a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the research, development, manufacture, and distribution of cellular therapies for sports medicine and severe burn care markets in North America. The company markets autologous cell therapy products comprising MACI, an autologous cultured chondrocytes on porcine collagen membrane for the repair of symptomatic, and single or multiple full-thickness cartilage defects of the knee; Epicel, a permanent skin replacement humanitarian use device for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients with deep-dermal or full-thickness burns; and NexoBrid, a biological orphan product for eschar removal in adults with deep partial-thickness and/or full-thickness thermal burns.